Events for the week

thursday
september 18
Ocho Pintores Mexicanos: The swank Ivanffy & Uhler Gallery usually specializes in 20th-century European visual art, but their fall 1997 season opens with a show of prominent contemporary Mexican artists. Ocho Pintores Mexicanos, or "Eight Mexican Painters" to us gringos, features more than 70 works in silk screen, lithograph, oil, etching, and engraving by some of that country's most important living painters, including Jose Luis Cuevas, Gilberto Aceves-Navarro, Manuel Felguerez, and Nicolas Moreno. The show opens with a reception featuring the Honorable Sr. Ramon Xilotl, Mexican consul general to Dallas, from 6-9 p.m. at Ivanffy & Uhler Gallery, 4623 West Lovers Lane. Call (214) 350-3500.

friday
september 19
The Great Dallas Shoot Out: Give a chick a stick, and look what happens--they form their own billiard association and begin whipping the pants off every man in sight. Clicks Billiards hosts the national heritage tour of the Women's Professional Billiard Association, which features women from as far away as Los Angeles and Charlotte and as close as Austin. Some of these billiard pros earn up to $150,000 a year in sanctioned competition, and Austin's Belinda Campos' efforts as part of the World Pool-Billiard Association helped cue sports reach the Olympics. Competition happens nightly September 18-21 at Clicks Billiards, 11111 Kingsley Road. For info call (214) 340-7360.

saturday
september 20
Third Annual Texas Brewers Festival: Reports about the alcohol consumption of Lady Di's chauffeur have ranged all the way from eight glasses of wine to eight shots of whiskey. The paparazzi are still scum, but the driver's imbibing contributed to not only his own death, but the crushing of Di's chest. Now that that's out of the way, we want to encourage you to attend the Third Annual Texas Brewers Festival, which features suds manufactured in Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Shiner, and Dallas as well as marvelous live music by The Nitrons, Hillbilly Cafe, and T. Buck Burns. Remember this rule--tipsy is cute, blind stinking drunk is embarrassing. The event happens September 20, noon-10 p.m., and September 21, 1-9 p.m., in General Worth Square, Main and Ninth, downtown Fort Worth. Entrance is free, but Festival mugs are $3 each. Call 1-800-BREWFEST.

Deliverance: Yes, Anaconda was one of the worst movies of spring 1997, but it was also one of the most fun, thanks in no part to the helluva good time Jon Voight was having as the heavy. Who else could charm us with a knowing wink after he'd been vomited up by a giant snake? Seriously, it's a measure of Voight's sheer unaffectedness that he can succeed in so many different genres. The USA Film Festival honors this great star of the '70s with a 25th anniversary screening of Deliverance and a film clip retrospective of his career. Voight will be in attendance and will conduct a Q & A with the audience. The screening happens at 8 p.m. at the AMC Glen Lakes, 9450 North Central Expressway. Tickets are $15. Call (214) 821-NEWS.

Orpheus in Hollywood: Undisciplined and occasionally self-indulgent though it was, Fred Curchack's last Dallas performance piece The Comeback of Freddy Chickan was a small marvel of shimmering theatrical elements, a collage that both distorted and illuminated the artist's personal life by transforming it into a near-mythical movie star's career. His new piece, Orpheus in Hollywood, fiddles with more traditional myth by changing the hell-bound string musician into a celestial schmo who wants a more earthbound version of stardom. Performances happen September 20, 8 p.m.; September 21, 2 p.m.; and September 25-27, 8 p.m. at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary, 3120 McKinney Avenue. Call (214) 953-1622.

I Used to Draw Pictures on the Ground With a Nail: Paintings by Walter Cotton: The Webb Gallery in Waxahachie continues its mission of filling in the holes of art history with the revival of a Texas artist who's been dead for almost 20 years. Walter Cotton produced more than 30 elaborate paintings over the last few decades of his 86-year life span. A World War II vet and principal of the high school in Mexia, he took it upon himself to document local African-American history, including his own family members who'd been slaves. The show opens with a reception September 20, 6-9 p.m., and runs through October 26 at Webb Gallery, 209-211 W. Franklin in Waxahachie. Call (972) 938-8085.

Serigraph Prints from the Coronado Studios in Austin: It's difficult to know whether to call nationally lauded Austin artist Sam Coronado's working space a studio or a salon. We're tempted to use the latter word, because Coronado operates a bit like the great artistic epicenters of Paris in the '20s, surrounding himself with hand-picked artists and thereby channeling complementary creative energy. Getting an easel next to Sam's is a big deal, and local artists like Leticia Huerta and Juan Juarez Hernandez have received the royal nod. Their works are included in a retrospective of artists who work in the print medium. Serigraph Prints from the Coronado Studios in Austin opens with a reception September 20, 6-8 p.m. at the Bath House Cultural Center, 521 E. Lawther. The show runs through October 11. Call (214) 670-8749.

sunday
september 21
Pepperama: They're tiny, they require only the butchest of palates to be enjoyed, and if eaten in large quantities, they have the curious indirect effect of making your friends antisocial...toward you, anyway. The chile pepper finally receives its due with a one-day celebration called Pepperama that showcases the Texas, Mexico, and Tex-Mex uses of the infernal vegetable as food, drink, decoration, medicine, and more. Pepperama features a demonstration on how to roast peppers, cooking classes (for an $8 fee) that illuminate various pepper recipes down to how to control the spice level, a cook-off contest, and chile pepper vendors hawking their wares. The event happens 11 a.m.-7 p.m. at the Dallas Farmers Market. For info call (972) 699-5757.